The unveiling of an England squad will always be a topic of discussion and this year is no different. Shaun Wane named his latest 32-man performance squad on Monday, and it featured six uncapped players and some notable omissions.
From a Hull KR perspective, four members of their squad made the cut, with Mikey Lewis, Elliot Minchella, Jez Litten, and the uncapped James Batchelor all included as preparations for the Ashes continue.
Batchelor was one of six uncapped players named alongside Owen Trout, James McDonnell, Morgan Gannon, Harry Robertson and George Delaney.
His inclusion was just a reward for his form this year, but like clubs across the competition, Rovers will feel they should have included more of their players.
Four players can feel unfortunate to miss out on the cut. Willie Peters has already gone into bat for Dean Hadley. His supreme consistency wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the train-on squad, with Peters revealing the news after another strong performance against Wakefield Trinity last week.
“He’s outstanding Deano and he would not look out of place in a squad like that,” Peters said. “He’s a worker, he’s one of the first picked every week for us. He came off with ten minutes to go and we could have left him on the field and he could have kept playing on his own now. That’s the type of player that others want to play with.”
Beyond that, Rovers’ two wingers will perhaps feel they have done enough to earn a spot in the side. Both Tom Davies and Joe Burgess have represented England previously, but neither has been named in the 32-man list.
Both have been excellent this year. Davies is third in the try-scoring charts, third for carries made and fifth for metres made across the whole of Super League. His stats speak for himself.
Burgess has made some big plays throughout the season and has regularly been among the star performers during Rovers’ excellent start to the campaign.
However, Matty Ashton, Tom Johnstone and Liam Marshall have all been given the nod, and in fairness to Wane, it’s only fair to point out they are players he has worked with before and have earned his trust, something we know is important to the England coach.
Many will feel Jack Broadbent deserves a crack, and collectively, they’re among a list of notable names not featured.
The standout is Jake Connor, the Leeds Rhinos star who currently leads the Man of Steel standings after an impressive campaign so far. Mark Percival is another who is left out, and with Jack Welsby currently injured, some felt Wakefield’s Max Jowitt had an outside chance of being included, given a shortage of specialist fullbacks.
The beauty of international selections is that everyone has their own opinion, but ultimately, it is Wane’s that counts, and it deserves to be so. With two series whitewashes to his name in the last two years over Tonga and Samoa, he’s doing a good job. If he can extend that run and get an Ashes series win under his belt, everyone will start believing ahead of the World Cup.